James FitzGerald

About

James FitzGerald (b. Seattle, Washington, 1910-1973) along with his wife, Margaret Tomkins were among the most innovative modern artists active in the Pacific Northwest. A Seattle, WA native, he exhibited widely in many major American museums. FitzGerald also had a broad grasp of media ranging from pottery, mosaic, stained glass and bronze fountains to lost wax bronze. He began his career as a painter, first studying with Orozco in Mexico, in the 1930's, working collaboratively on WPA funded murals in Colorado. In 1939, his interests turned to architecture. After studying briefly at Yale's Architecture School, he returned west to execute his first public commission, the Portal of the North Pacific, a cement relief sculpture near Mercer Island Floating Bridge tunnel entry in Seattle, WA.

FitzGerald’s work is in the collections of the Seattle Art Museum, The Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, the Tacoma Art Museum, the Museum of Northwest Art, LaConnor, WA, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, the University of Maryland Art Gallery, and several others.

He has exhibited in major international shows across the nation such as the Whitney Museum in NY, and has had one-man shows at the Seattle Art Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Art, and the Santa Barbara Museum